Weekly Review of Orthodox Church News

A survey of developments in the Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox Churches worldwide.

11–17 October 2026

Contents

1. Top Stories of the Week

1.1 Bulgaria — Bartholomew arrives amid a petition battle; a 9–4 deposition

Following the report of 10 October on the planned visit and the petition against it.

The visit, now 17–19 October. The Bulgarian Holy Synod decided on 26 June 2026, in full composition (protocol No. 3), that Patriarch Bartholomew “be invited … to take part in the celebrations” of the 1,150th anniversary of the birth and 1,080th of the repose of St John of Rila (BTA, 7 Jul — Bulgarian). The programme published on 14 October:

DateEvent
Sat 17 Oct, 17:00Reception by Patriarch Daniil and the Synod at the Synodal Palace
Sat 17 Oct, 18:00Both Patriarchs open “Mount Athos in Sofia” (50 paintings by Efthymios Varlamis) at the National Palace of Culture
Sun 18 Oct, 09:30Hierarchical Liturgy at St Alexander Nevsky Cathedral
Sun 18 Oct, 12:00Trisagion at the tomb of Patriarch Neofit
Mon 19 Oct, 09:00Festal Patriarchal Liturgy at Rila Monastery

(Orthodox Times, 14 Oct — English; Orthodox Times, 14 Oct — Greek; Dveri, 14 Oct — Bulgarian)

The sources differ on the length of the stay: Dveri says 17 to 20 October, Orthodox Times 17–19, Hristianstvo.bg “three days”. They also differ in wording: Orthodox Times says both primates “take part in prayer” at the Sunday Liturgy in Sofia but calls the Rila service on Monday a “concelebrated” Patriarchal Liturgy. No meeting with the President, Prime Minister or parliament appears in any published programme. The visit falls eight days before the presidential election of 25 October. On 9 October Patriarch Daniil told clergy in a circular that they may not stand as candidates, and that prayers or blessings requested by parties may be held “only and exclusively in Orthodox churches” with sermons “of spiritual content” (Dveri, 9 Oct — Bulgarian). The Patriarch’s arrival falls on the closing day of this edition; his addresses will be reported next week.

The counter-campaign against the petition (10–15 October). Last week the review reported a petition against the visit. This week the Church’s leadership and its supporters answered.

  • Daniil’s sermon (10 October). At the St John of Rila monastery in Germany, a metochion of Zograf, Daniil warned against “the spirit of opposition, branding and hatred that sometimes appears even in Orthodox circles”. He said irresponsible spreading of untruths creates “preconditions for division and schism”. He called for calm dialogue with other confessions, in which “the aim … must not be condemnation but the clarification of truth”, and added: “we are not the saviours of the Church; the Lord Jesus Christ is.” Dveri links the sermon to social-media attacks on Metropolitan John of Varna, who attended the Chantilly conference. The sermon names neither Bartholomew nor the petition. (Dveri, 12 Oct — Bulgarian)
  • Fr Pimen (11 October). The abbot of the same monastery was blunter. He called the signatories “unreasonable people and zealots” and divided them into three groups: some with old-calendarist leanings, some neophytes used as “useful idiots”, and some who signed believing they were following the Zograf monks. He said Zograf’s Archimandrite Gavriil neither took part nor blessed his monks to sign. (Dveri, 11 Oct — Bulgarian)
  • Opinion pieces. Hristianstvo.bg, which supports the visit, ran four opinion pieces against the petitioners between 12 and 15 October, by Ventsislav Karavalchev, Blagovest Varbakov, Reneta Trifonova and the philosopher Kalin Yanakiev. Yanakiev’s was titled “To the ‘zealots’. And a few questions for them”.
  • Dveri’s framing. In its own words, Dveri says the campaign came from “certain conservative and pro-Russian church circles”.

The petitioners’ side has not been heard. Neither the number of signatures nor the organisers’ own statement could be found in this week’s Bulgarian sources.

A deposition decided by 9 votes to 4. On 2 October, the same day it ruled on Archimandrite Nikanor (reported on 3 October), the Holy Synod sat as a church court in the case of Archimandrite Dionisiy (Mishev). This ruling was not reported at the time and is recorded here. The Synod confirmed the sentence of the Sofia Episcopal Church Court of 1 September: deposition without anathema. In Romfea’s words, “he ceases to be a cleric but remains a monk”. The grounds were “repeated public insults and slanderous claims against clergy” and conduct unbecoming his rank. The vote was nine to four:

  • For: Daniil and Metropolitans Grigoriy of Veliko Tarnovo, Ignatiy of Pleven, Gavriil of Lovech, Antoniy of Western and Central Europe, John of Varna, Serafim of Nevrokop, Grigoriy of Vratsa and Pahomiy of Vidin.
  • Against, with a separate opinion on procedure: Naum of Ruse, Kiprian of Stara Zagora, Yakov of Dorostol and Arseniy of Sliven.
  • Absent: Yosif of the USA and Nikolay of Plovdiv.

(Romfea, 2 Oct — Greek)

Mishev’s appeal to the Phanar. On the eve of the visit, Romfea (signed analysis by Giorgos Leimonidis, 17 October, citing the Bulgarian site Lupa.bg) reported that Mishev has lodged an appeal (έκκλητο) with the Ecumenical Patriarchate. He asks for recognition of his 2014 election as Bishop of Stobi, which was never completed by ordination, for reception under the Phanar, and for ordination in Constantinople. These are his claims; the Phanar has not commented. Romfea itself cautions that Lupa.bg’s linkage of the case to Russian influence and to Mishev’s pro-OCU stance is “interpretation”, that “accepting an appeal … does not equal vindication”, and that no report places the case on the visit’s agenda. (Romfea, Giorgos Leimonidis, 17 Oct — Greek)

The Berlin parish statement. On 16 October the Patriarchate responded to a criminal allegation made publicly by Archimandrite Nikanor against a lay employee of the Bulgarian parish in Berlin. It said it “has so far received no officially confirmed information from the competent German authorities or courts”. It also said that “every genuine crime must be investigated, every victim has the right to protection”, invoked the presumption of innocence, and asked that the case “not be exploited to undermine the standing of the Church”. No disciplinary step has been announced, and the review does not repeat the substance of an untested allegation against an unnamed person. (Orthodox Times, 16 Oct — English)

Reading the week. Three questions should be kept apart:

  • (a) Can the Bulgarian Church host the Ecumenical Patriarch without endorsing his Ukrainian policy? The Synod’s June invitation assumes it can, and the published programme keeps the visit liturgical and anniversary-centred.
  • (b) Is the opposition to the visit a fringe or a current within the Church? The leadership’s supporters describe zealots and neophytes. The organisers have not spoken for themselves in the sources reached.
  • (c) Is the Synod’s internal balance changing? The four-vote procedural minority in the Mishev case is much larger than Kiprian’s lone dissent in the Nikanor ruling the same day. Whether those four metropolitans attend the Rila Liturgy on 19 October will be one indicator.

1.2 Ethiopia — Federal forces take Adwa and Axum; the Church’s assembly meets in Addis

Following the report of 10 October (Mekelle retaken 3–4 October; Eritrean troops at Adigrat; strikes reported near Axum).

The military picture. In a single week, federal forces and the allied Tigray Peace Force (TPF) took the historic heartland of Tigrayan Christianity. The detailed tracker of the US think-tank Critical Threats (American Enterprise Institute; author Liam Karr) gives the sequence:

DateEvent
8 OctShire falls
Night of 9–10 OctAdigrat entered “without facing any resistance”
11 OctAdwa taken after Tigray Defence Forces (TDF) withdrawal towards Rama; Enticho and Feres May also taken
11–12 OctFederal forces reach the Eritrean border at Zalambessa
12 OctAxum taken, the forces “advancing from Shire along the B30 highway”

Pro-government sources claim that five senior TDF commanders surrendered near Enticho; this is unverified. (Critical Threats, Liam Karr, 13 Oct — English)

Eyewitness and agency accounts.

  • Adwa. AFP residents’ accounts describe government forces entering on Sunday 11 October, a day after the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) left. One resident said: “All the shops in the town are closed. Last night, many government institutions, including Adwa Hospital, were looted.” (Al Jazeera/AFP, 12 Oct — English)
  • Axum. Anadolu, citing the ACLED conflict-monitoring project, reports that federal forces entered Axum while “rival Tigrayan fighters remained in the surrounding mountains”, and that Eritrean personnel withdrew into Eritrea through Zalambessa. (UA.News/Anadolu, 15 Oct — English)
  • Mekelle airport. On 16 October the TPLF declared flights to Mekelle’s airport suspended, claiming they were being used “to transport troops”. It also rejected the six-month federal “command post” administration that Getachew Reda had announced in Mekelle on 11 October. (Borkena, 16 Oct — English; Toronto-based diaspora outlet, broadly federal-leaning)

Civilians and diplomacy.

  • Human Rights Watch. On 13 October HRW reported civilians killed and injured by shelling in southern Tigray, without giving a toll or naming a perpetrator. It called for independent monitoring, restored communications and humanitarian access.
  • United States. On 14 October Secretary of State Rubio telephoned Prime Minister Abiy. He urged dialogue under the 2018 Ethiopia–Eritrea peace agreement and said “all countries in the Horn of Africa must respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of their neighbors”.
  • Eritrea. Foreign Minister Osman Saleh asked the UN Security Council to condemn Ethiopia’s “deplorable declaration of war”. He neither confirmed nor denied that Eritrean troops had crossed the border.

(ClickOnDetroit/AP, 15 Oct — English)

Axum and its churches. Axum, with the Cathedral of St Mary of Zion, is the spiritual centre of both the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church (EOTC) and the separated Tigrayan church structure. It changed hands on 12 October. None of the dated reports on the capture — Critical Threats, AFP, AP or Anadolu — mentions churches, clergy or damage to church property. Reports of strikes “on Axum” since 3 October (Critical Threats, reported on 10 October) have still not been linked by any source to church sites. Readers should treat claims of damage to St Mary of Zion with great caution until they are documented. In this environment, online searches about the city’s churches routinely return reports of the massacres of November 2020.

The Church in Addis Ababa. On or about 14 October, Deputy Prime Minister Temesgen Tiruneh opened the EOTC’s 45th General Parish Council assembly (ጠቅላላ ሰበካ ጉባኤ). This annual gathering normally precedes the Holy Synod’s autumn (Tikimt) session. He said the government “will not tolerate political or structural approaches aimed at dividing religious institutions”. Borkena added criticism from unnamed opposition commentators and church observers, who cite clashes at Shashemene, disruption in Arsi, arrests of clergy and military action in monastic areas. The report mentions neither Tigray nor the war. The Patriarch’s own opening address could not be obtained. (Borkena, 14 Oct — English)

Statements not yet made. In a week in which federal forces took Axum, no statement on the war from the EOTC Holy Synod or from Patriarch Abune Mathias, and none from the Tigrayan church’s leadership, could be traced. The Synod’s autumn session, expected shortly after the Parish Council assembly, is the natural occasion for one.

1.3 Georgia — The 1,700th-anniversary jubilee and its guest list

The celebrations. From 12 to 15 October the Georgian Orthodox Church marked the 1,700th anniversary of Christianity’s proclamation as the state religion. The central Liturgy was held at Svetitskhoveli Cathedral, Mtskheta, on the feast of Svetitskhovloba (14 October). In his first great jubilee as primate, Catholicos-Patriarch Shio III preached that “Christianity preserved our land, our language, our nationhood” (ქრისტიანობამ შემოგვინახა ჩვენი მიწა-წყალი, ჩვენი ენა, ეროვნება). In the reported text he did not refer to Kurmukh, Azerbaijan, Russia or the occupied territories. (Sputnik Georgia, 14 Oct — Georgian; Russian state-owned outlet)

Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze hosted a reception for the foreign delegations. Only accredited media were admitted to the cathedral courtyard (Metronome, 12 Oct — Georgian). The dating to 326 is not uncontested among historians. Radio Tavisupleba has questioned whether the anniversary is a real date or the ruling Georgian Dream party’s policy.

Who came. On the evening of 12–13 October Shio III received delegations, which Interpressnews lists as follows:

  • Alexandria: Bishop Damaskinos of Mareotis
  • Antioch: Metropolitan Niphon of Philippopolis
  • Cyprus: Metropolitan Nektarios of Kition
  • Greece: Metropolitan Damaskinos of Didymoteicho
  • Poland: Bishop Andrzej of Supraśl
  • “Ukrainian Orthodox Church”: Metropolitan Sergiy of Ternopil and Kremenets, with Iov of Shumsk

(Interpressnews, 13 Oct — Georgian)

The two Ukrainian hierarchs belong to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC, Metropolitan Onuphry), not to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU). The sources list no OCU delegation.

Other delegations are reported separately:

  • Serbian Church: Metropolitan Metodije of Budimlje and Nikšić, who served a memorial for the late Patriarch Ilia II (Riznica/SOC information service, 14 Oct — Serbian).
  • Moscow Patriarchate: Metropolitan Georgy of Nizhny Novgorod, according to the same Serbian report. No Georgian or Russian source seen confirms this.
  • Ecumenical Patriarchate: Metropolitans Bessarion of Spain and Portugal and Irenaeus of Florina, according to an English aggregator. Bartholomew also sent a written message dated 12 October: “The joy of your Church is shared by the entire Orthodox world … One Lord, one faith, one baptism” (Orthodox Times, 14 Oct — English).

Why the list matters. The Georgian Church is not among the Churches that recognise the OCU, which RISU on 16 October listed as Constantinople, Alexandria, Greece and Cyprus (RISU, 16 Oct). It brought to Mtskheta, in a single week, envoys of the Phanar (on the reports above), of Moscow, of the four Churches that do recognise the OCU, and of the UOC. This was the first pan-Orthodox event of Shio III’s primacy. Its composition says more about how he means to position the Church than any statement has so far (see §6.1).

Internal dissent. Before the window, on 3 October, Archimandrite Dorote Kurashvili wrote that with Shio III’s election, Russia “appropriated not only the Tskhum-Abkhazia eparchy but also Mtskheta-Tbilisi”. He was reacting to the Moscow Patriarchate’s statement on the 30 September visit, which referred to “the situation in painful regions”. This is one cleric’s view, but it shows that the new primate’s Moscow contacts are contested within his own Church. (Timer.ge, Mariam Devdariani, 3 Oct — Georgian)

1.4 Ukraine — Zaporizhzhia eparchy declared “affiliated”; the Kyiv Metropolia case goes to paper

Zaporizhzhia. By an order dated 13 October 2026, the State Service for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience (DESS) found the administration of the UOC’s Zaporizhzhia eparchy (Metropolitan Luka) affiliated with a foreign religious organisation “whose activity in Ukraine is prohibited”. It acted under Article 3 of Law 3894-IX on protecting the constitutional order in the sphere of religious organisations.

RISU reports three grounds:

  • the eparchy did not comply with an earlier prescription, failing to provide “a decision of the highest governing body”, meaning a diocesan assembly resolution to leave the Kyiv Metropolia;
  • the statute of the Russian Orthodox Church lists Metropolitan Luka among its governing bodies;
  • Luka has neither publicly dissociated himself from that membership nor broken his ties.

RISU calls the eparchy the “fourth religious organisation” declared affiliated. No response from the eparchy or the UOC could be found during the week. (RISU, 15 Oct — Ukrainian)

The Kyiv Metropolia case. Following the report of 10 October that the 7 October hearing had been postponed and the files sent to the Supreme Court. The DESS news page announced on 16 October that, by rulings of 15 October, the Supreme Court had set the appeals of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra and the Kyiv Metropolia in case 855/11/25 for consideration in written proceedings, without an oral hearing. The notice itself could not be opened; only its headline and listing summary were seen. (DESS news, 16 Oct — Ukrainian)

The pattern. Three logics of enforcement against the UOC are at work:

  • Prescription: an administrative finding with a period to comply.
  • Termination suit: a court action that may rest on a criminal conviction of a parish representative.
  • Derivation: a finding against a subordinate unit that rests partly on a prior finding against its parent.

The Zaporizhzhia order is the first application of the derivation logic at the level of a whole eparchy. It combines non-compliance with a prescription and the bishop’s personal place in Moscow’s structures. Together with the Supreme Court’s move to written proceedings in the parent case (§6.2), it shows the process accelerating from both ends.

2. Eastern Orthodox News

2.1 Ecumenical Patriarchate — 35th anniversary; Venizelos on the “primacy of the word”

35th anniversary. The Phanar announced on 14 October that it will mark the 35th anniversary of Bartholomew’s election with Great Vespers on Wednesday 21 October and a festal Liturgy on Thursday 22 October at the Patriarchal Church of St George. No guests have been announced. (ec-patr.org, 14 Oct — Greek)

The anniversary falls between the Bulgarian visit (§1.1) and the planned Rome–Assisi journey (§5.1). The Patriarchate’s website published no Holy Synod communiqué, appointments or news on Halki during the week.

Venizelos lecture. On 12 October, at the Byzantine and Christian Museum in Athens, Evangelos Venizelos, constitutional lawyer and former Greek Deputy Prime Minister, lectured on “The Ecumenical Patriarchate and the primacy of the word”.

  • Two kinds of primacy. He distinguished a “primacy of the word” from canonical primacy: “The primacy of the word is a primacy of unity, peace and responsibility for creation.” He claimed it for “an Orthodoxy that is liberal and not illiberal” (μία ορθοδοξία η οποία είναι liberal και όχι illiberal).
  • On Ukraine. He argued that the core issue is not the Tomos but resistance to a “theology of war”: theological discourse “cannot slide into a theological war-rhetoric” (δεν μπορεί να διολισθήσει σε μία θεολογική πολεμολογία).

His argument is an attempt to reframe the Phanar’s role in political rather than canonical terms, and it was made by a lay politician. (Orthodox Times, 15 Oct — Greek)

2.2 Sinai — The brotherhood asks for time; Damianos “on the table”

Following the report of 10 October on the countdown to the Egyptian Court of Cassation ruling expected on 24 October.

The brotherhood’s request for time. Ta Nea, in a report by Dimitris Th. Alexopoulos republished by Romfea on 15 October, says the brotherhood of St Catherine’s asked Athens at the last minute for a new deadline, until the following Sunday (apparently 18 October). Its stated reason was that “further time is needed for internal deliberations”. Archbishop Symeon is described as having been ill for many days.

The timetable. The brotherhood’s reply must reach Athens by Thursday 22 October. Friday 23 October is a public holiday in Egypt, and the Egyptian deadline falls on Saturday 24 October.

What the church sources expect. The unnamed church sources quoted do not expect the brotherhood to give a “green light”. They point to internal rivalries and outside interventions, and say some monks are “buying time” in the hope that a ruling will bring international condemnation of Egypt.

The Damianos scenario. The report’s most striking claim is that the former Archbishop Damianos could return as interim head if Symeon were to resign. According to Ta Nea, Damianos remains “the only Archbishop of Sinai currently recognised by the Egyptian government”, because “the Presidential Decree recognising his successor, Symeon, has not been issued” and Damianos’s own decree has not been revoked.

The claim comes from a single source and is not otherwise confirmed. If accurate, it would mean that Cairo has, for over a year, recognised a different archbishop from the one the brotherhood elected. The review treats it as Ta Nea’s report.

Who is working on the file. Ta Nea names Foreign Minister Gerapetritis and Deputy Minister Kalantzis. Patriarch Theophilos of Jerusalem, who consecrates the Archbishop of Sinai, telephoned Gerapetritis. The Ecumenical Patriarchate, the Jerusalem Patriarchate and the Church of Greece are said to support the effort.

(Romfea/Ta Nea, Dimitris Th. Alexopoulos, 15 Oct — Greek)

2.3 Russia — Awards, abortion claims, and life beyond Moscow

A church order for a state envoy. On 13 October Patriarch Kirill awarded the Order of St Alexander Nevsky, first class, to Yuri Chaika. Chaika is a former Prosecutor General and now the presidential plenipotentiary envoy to the North Caucasus Federal District, and the award marked his 75th birthday. The order was given “in recognition of labours for the good of Church and Fatherland”, and Kirill called Chaika’s present post “a difficult but very important mission for the country”. (RIA Novosti, 13 Oct — Russian; state agency)

The award follows by eight days the decoration of Ramzan Kadyrov reported last week. Both men are senior state figures responsible for the North Caucasus.

Abortion: a Church figure’s claims. On 10 October Archpriest Fyodor Lukyanov, chair of the Patriarchal Commission on the family, spoke at an anti-abortion moleben in Moscow; his remarks were published during the week. He said that:

  • private clinics in 19 regions have “fully” stopped performing abortions;
  • in 25 regions 60% of clinics have stopped;
  • more than 32 regions have laws against “inducement” to abortion;
  • around 1,500 private clinics have stopped in five years.

“Today no official dares say that abortion is normal,” he said. (Azbyka.ru, 12 Oct — Russian; church portal, citing RIA)

These figures come from the commission and have not been independently verified. They concern the number of clinics, not the number of abortions, which may have moved to state facilities. They should not be read as evidence of a fall in abortions.

Russia beyond Moscow — Khanty-Mansiysk, Sverdlovsk region, Tver region

  • Khanty-Mansiysk (Western Siberia): an evening prayer for “Holy Rus”. At the okrug’s coordination council on spiritual and moral education, Metropolitan Pavel of Khanty-Mansiysk and Surgut asked believers to add, every evening at 18:00, in church or at home, the Prayer for Holy Rus. This would come on top of the patriarchal prayer for peace read since 2022. “I call on all to offer the prayer for Holy Rus daily at 18:00 … Strength is in unity: when the Orthodox pray at the same time…” Dmitry Aksenov, a State Duma deputy who heads the Yugra association of veterans of the “special military operation”, thanked him. The appeal was announced through the okrug government’s department of internal policy, which shows how closely the regional state and diocese work together. (RIA Novosti, 14 Oct — Russian)


  • Verkhoturye (Sverdlovsk region): a non-Patriarchal hieromonk sentenced again. On 14 October the Sverdlovsk Regional Court sentenced Evgeny Pinchuk (Hieromonk Nikandr), 54, of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia under Metropolitan Agafangel. That body is a jurisdiction outside both the Moscow Patriarchate and the ROCOR united with it. He was convicted of “rehabilitation of Nazism” (Art. 354.1) and of public calls to extremism (Art. 280) and received two years, which brings his cumulative sentence to seven. The charges rested on two sets of statements:

    • Telegram comments of December 2024 calling General Andrei Vlasov a “martyr” who “met his death at the hands of a godless regime”;

    • comments of August 2025 hostile to migrants and Muslims.

    In court he called collaboration a mistake and said he regretted the comments. In March 2026 he had already received 5½ years for “justifying terrorism”, over comments supporting the Russian Volunteer Corps. (SOVA Center, 14 Oct — Russian; SOVA is designated a “foreign agent” in Russia)

  • Tatevo (Tver region): a rediscovered poem. At a regional teachers’ conference attended by more than 70 teachers, Bishop Silouan of Rzhev and Toropets read a previously unknown poem by the New Martyr Famar (Marjanova) on St Alexis of Moscow. It was found in a notebook of Bishop Arseny (Zhadanovsky). Archpriest Vladimir Klyuev called it “the voice of a saint addressed to us across decades of oblivion”. (RIA Novosti, 16 Oct — Russian)

2.4 Ukraine — Vyshkovo shooting; the Lavra courtroom; Epifaniy on occupied territories

Vyshkovo (Transcarpathia). On 15 October, at about 16:00, a 45-year-old man walked along the main street of Vyshkovo (Khust district) firing at passers-by. Police detained him within minutes. Casualty figures differ:

  • prosecutors: two men, aged 62 and 64, killed and three people hospitalised;
  • early police figures: two dead and one woman injured;
  • later RISU headlines: a third victim has died.

Proceedings were opened for premeditated murder and attempted murder. According to the police spokesperson quoted by LIGA, a shotgun, a pistol and suspected cannabis were found in the church where he served.

His status differs between sources. RISU calls him a UOC priest; LIGA, citing police, says he was serving at the time and was excommunicated afterwards; Censor.net calls him a “former cleric”. No statement from the UOC’s Khust eparchy could be found. The motive has not been disclosed, and nothing reported so far connects the act to church policy. (RISU, 15 Oct — Ukrainian; LIGA.net, 15 Oct — English; Censor.net, 15 Oct — English)

Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra. On 15 October, during a hearing in the Lavra litigation, the UOC said that Valerii Kushnir, a lawyer representing the monks, was assaulted during a recess called so that his side could draft a motion to recuse the panel. According to Archpriest Nikita Chekman, whose account the UOC’s news service carried, Kushnir felt a push in his back, turned and saw the activist Davyd Pshenychnyi, and a second person then used force. Kushnir’s blood pressure rose, an ambulance was called, and police attended. Russian state media, quoting Chekman’s video, say Pshenychnyi “attacked the lawyer, pushed him and began threatening bodily harm”.

The two accounts name the court differently: the UOC says the Northern Appellate Commercial Court, RIA the Northern Court of Appeal. Pshenychnyi, the court and the police had not commented in the sources reached. Both published accounts come from one side of the dispute. (news.church.ua, 16 Oct — Ukrainian, UOC; RIA Novosti, 15 Oct — Russian, state)

Epifaniy on the occupied territories. In an interview with Radio Svoboda reported on 16 October, Metropolitan Epifaniy (OCU) said of the occupied territories: “We withdrew our priests because several priests were killed … Several priests remain there; they celebrate services, but secretly.” He put the number of religious buildings destroyed or damaged since the full-scale invasion at more than 700. On recognition of the OCU, he said that “after this war ends, recognitions by other Local Churches will take place”, that “Moscow exerts influence, and we really see it”, and that “at this stage only the Russian Orthodox Church has officially broken eucharistic communion with the Ecumenical Patriarch.” (RISU, 16 Oct and 16 Oct — Ukrainian)

War damage. On 16 October the UOC’s Synodal Information Department reported that the late-19th-century church of St John the Theologian in Slovianka (Synelnykove district, Dnipropetrovsk region) had been “completely destroyed” by four guided aerial bombs. The date of the strike is not given, and the report itself rests on an Azerbaijani outlet. No confirmation from the regional administration was found. (news.church.ua, 16 Oct — Ukrainian)

2.5 Belarus — Exarchate Synod

The Synod of the Belarusian Exarchate met in Minsk on 15 October under Metropolitan Veniamin. It “considered current questions … and took a number of decisions”. Under the Russian Church’s statute, these will be published only once the Patriarch of Moscow has approved them, which is itself a measure of the Exarchate’s limited self-government. The Synod awarded Archbishop Stefan of Gomel the Order of St Sophia of Slutsk for his 60th birthday. (Azbyka.ru, 16 Oct — Russian)

2.6 Baltic States — Vilnius study; Estonia’s new president

Lithuania: a study on the Russian Church and a new research centre. On 14 October, in Vilnius, the newly founded Libertas Fidei International Centre for the Study of Religious Freedom (Lithuanian: Religijos laisvės tyrimų centras „Libertas Fidei“) began its work by presenting a study titled “The use of religion as an instrument of influence and a threat to the security of Lithuania and Europe in the context of Russian military aggression”.

Who is behind it. The study was presented by the centre’s executive director, the church historian Dr Serhiy Shumylo, whom LRT and ELTA describe as a senior researcher at Vilnius University. The centre’s board is chaired by the political commentator Vytautas Bruveris. None of the Lithuanian or Ukrainian reports says who founded or funds the centre, what its legal form is, or who commissioned the study. None names a Lithuanian state body or a foreign government or organisation as sponsor or partner. These questions therefore remain open.

What the study claims. According to the presentation, as reported by RISU and LRT:

  • the Moscow Patriarchate has about 215 parishes in the Baltic States: 52 in Lithuania, 125 in Latvia and 37 in Estonia;
  • it has 670–700 parishes in the EU and more than 1,000 structures in all;
  • its parishes abroad are “described as support points” (“įvardijamos kaip atraminiai punktai”);
  • the study covers the Church’s justification of the war, its funding mechanisms and alleged links to the Russian intelligence services.

Šimonytė’s position. The former Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė spoke at the presentation as an opposition member of the Seimas Committee on National Security and Defence. She said decisions of the Moscow Patriarchate’s structures in Lithuania “largely depend on Moscow”. She urged that the Ecumenical Patriarchate’s Exarchate, to which Lithuania gave state recognition in early 2024, be strengthened as an alternative. She noted that the State Security Department’s annual threat assessment has, for the first time, named the Moscow Patriarchate. Institutions should weigh this, she said, “including, for example, licences for educational institutions”, since “normally the VSD and the Second Operational Services Department don’t throw words around”. At the same time she argued against copying Estonia’s law, calling a ban “more of a declarative matter that would not change the real situation”.

Bruveris’s position. He criticised public contacts between Lithuanian officials and people linked to the Moscow Patriarchate as sending ambiguous signals.

The government’s position. Lithuania “does not intend to follow Estonia’s example”, LRT reports. Justice Minister Rita Tamašunienė said: “We see two paths: not only bans, but also offering an alternative, and also talking with people and the church.”

The Church’s reply. The chancery of the Lithuanian Orthodox Archdiocese (Moscow Patriarchate) replied the same day: “There are no facts proving that the Lithuanian Orthodox Church poses a threat to the Republic of Lithuania.” It said that “unfounded attempts to call the Orthodox a ‘fifth column’ do not strengthen our state’s security”, and that “canonical affiliation with the Moscow Patriarchate does not prevent us from being law-abiding Lithuanian citizens”. It also said “the effort to transfer Ukraine’s religious conflict to Lithuania is of particular concern”. Its representative Marija Jakubovskaja-Rogalski said the commemoration of the Patriarch at services is a matter of the Church’s canons and rites.

(LRT, Edvardas Špokas, 14 Oct — Lithuanian; LRT/ELTA, 14 Oct — Lithuanian; TV3/ELTA, 14 Oct — Lithuanian; Respublika/ELTA, Benjaminas Auryla, 14 Oct — Lithuanian; RISU, 15 Oct — Ukrainian)

Estonia: the president-elect meets church leaders. On 11 October, the eve of her inauguration, President-elect Ülle Madise attended the Harvest Thanksgiving service at Tallinn’s Toomkirik (the Lutheran cathedral). She then met representatives of the Estonian Council of Churches. The Moscow-linked Estonian Christian Orthodox Church (EKÕK) was represented by Bishop Daniel of Tartu. Its report says that, among topics that could cause serious disagreement in society, “the role of artificial intelligence was discussed”. It does not say whether the church law or the dispute over the EKÕK’s statute was raised. (et.orthodox.ee, 12 Oct — Estonian; EKÕK)

The EKÕK’s application to the European Court of Human Rights (reported on 10 October) has seen no published procedural step.

2.7 Montenegro — The Metropolitanate answers a “separatism” campaign

The following was not previously reported. On 5 October the Metropolitanate of Montenegro and the Littoral (Serbian Orthodox Church) replied through Montenegro’s public broadcaster to media accusations of “separatism” and money against Fr Gojko Perović and other priests. It called the accusations “fabricated in Serbia” and “copied from the ‘coup’ affair”. It also defended the clergy’s role in the protests of 2020: “We think the clergy’s participation in anti-regime campaigning was absolutely legitimate and legal.”

The exchange continues a dispute that began in August, when the Metropolitanate answered President Vučić’s remarks on the 2020 processions by rejecting what it called “non-existent church separatism”. That a Serbian Orthodox metropolitanate is being attacked from Serbia, and is answering in kind, is a notable turn in relations between Belgrade and the Church’s Montenegrin see. (Religija.rs/Republika, Saša Tošić, 5 Oct — Serbian; pro-government media group; Danas, Aleksandar Maksimović, 5 Aug — Serbian)

2.8 Romania — Iași pilgrimage: the final count

Following the report of 10 October on the expected 300,000 pilgrims. The pilgrimage to the relics of St Parascheva at Iași closed on 15 October, when the reliquary was carried back into the Metropolitan Cathedral. For the first time the relics of St Paisie of Sihăstria were displayed alongside hers.

Attendance. The figures moved during the week and do not agree:

  • 190,000 who had passed the reliquaries by 15:00 on 14 October (Digi24);
  • “over 194,000” that evening (organisers, via Agerpres and G4Media);
  • “over 200,000 faithful”, according to the archdiocesan spokesman Fr Lucian Apopei on 15 October;
  • about 250,000 who came to the cathedral from 8 October, in the same Agerpres article.

Both final figures fall short of the 300,000 expected. Apopei: “I saw a Romania in miniature, a beautiful Romania of faith and devotion.”

Medical cases and incidents. The gendarmerie recorded 1,022 medical cases, of which 61 people were taken to hospital. On 14 October two men who pushed through the barriers and insulted gendarmes were detained for ultraj (outrage against a public official).

(Agerpres, 15 Oct — Romanian; G4Media, 14 Oct — Romanian; Digi24, 14 Oct — Romanian)

2.9 Greece — Mithymna vacancy; philanthropy figures; the empty reliquaries

Standing Synod (12 October). The Standing Holy Synod “unanimously accepted” the resignation of Metropolitan Chrysostomos of Mithymna (Lesvos) on grounds of age, which opens a see for the next election by the Hierarchy. It also published the Church’s philanthropy figures for 2025:

Indicator20252024
Spending€124,953,950.96€127.7m
Beneficiaries1,102,9041,456,671
Food distributed2.21m kg2.73m kg

The figures cover 4,325 charitable structures and 16,188 volunteers. The number of beneficiaries fell by about a quarter while spending fell by only 2%. The Synod gave no explanation, and Romfea’s headline (“€125m: the Church’s social contribution”) does not mention the fall. (Romfea, 12 Oct — Greek)

New auxiliary bishops. On 16 October, the bishops elected on 8 October, Kallinikos (Nikolaou) of Asterios and Christodoulos of Neochorion, called on Archbishop Ieronymos (Romfea, 16 Oct — Greek).

The relics returned from Bulgaria: what is inside? Following the report of 10 October on the exhibition of relics returned from Bulgaria. Greek commentators are asking whether the reliquaries returned from the Prodromos monastery (Serres) and the Eikosiphoinissa monastery contain their relics.

  • Panagiotis Savvidis (Lionnews, republished by Romfea) notes that “there is no clear official information on their contents”.
  • Apostolos Lykesas, in Efsyn, says at least the reliquary of St Matrona is empty.
  • Charis Dimaras, in Parallaxi, notes that manuscripts are also missing.
  • The director of Sofia’s National History Museum, Boni Petrunova, is quoted (from 24 Chasa) as saying that relics were removed over time and given to monasteries.

No official Greek or Bulgarian response has been published. (Romfea, 15 Oct — Greek)

2.10 Albania — Archbishop Joan in Athens; President Begaj at Hoçisht

On 15 October Archbishop Joan of Tirana, with Metropolitan Anastasios of Korçë, was received by Archbishop Ieronymos in Athens. Their talks covered philanthropic, social and educational work: “a common point of reference was pastoral ministry and social outreach”. (Romfea, 15 Oct — Greek)

President Bajram Begaj visited the church of St Nicholas at Hoçisht (Devoll, Korçë county), where Metropolitan Anastasios received him. Orthodox Times calls the visit “a highly symbolic gesture”, reports that he praised the Church and interreligious cooperation, and gives no direct quotation or date. (Orthodox Times, 16 Oct — Greek)

3. Oriental Orthodox News

3.1 Armenian Apostolic Church — Committee yet to sit; Etchmiadzin and Antelias

The inquiry committee. Following the reports of 3 and 10 October on Parliament’s inquiry into the Church. On 14 October Radio Azatutyun reported that the committee “will soon begin work”. This indicates it had not met by that date (Azatutyun, 14 Oct — Armenian). No sitting, terms of reference or bill text was reported in the Armenian outlets reached by the close of this edition. The criminal trial of Catholicos Karekin II and six bishops remains listed for 30 October at the Armavir court in Vagharshapat.

Etchmiadzin and US religious-freedom advocacy. On 16 October Karekin II received a delegation of Save Armenia led by its executive director, Dr Paul Murray. Aravot lists the group’s aims as the rights of the Armenians of Artsakh, the release of Armenian prisoners held in Azerbaijan, the protection of Artsakh heritage, and action “in defence of freedom of conscience and religion”. The Catholicos gave his blessing, citing the preservation of the Mush Homiliary as an emblem of the Armenian people’s “unbending will”. The reports make no explicit reference to the government. (Aravot, 16 Oct — Armenian; armenianchurch.org, 16 Oct — English, Mother See)

The audience follows Paula White-Cain’s visit of 4 October. Like that visit, it shows Etchmiadzin turning to religious-freedom advocates in the United States while it is in conflict with its own government.

Cilicia: a state institution at Antelias. From 16 October a delegation of the Matenadaran, Armenia’s state manuscript institute, led by its director Ara Khzmalyan, is at the Catholicosate of Cilicia in Antelias (Lebanon). Its task is to survey and restore the Catholicosate’s manuscript collections, which have physical damage and fungal infestation; the first phase runs to 25 October. The delegation met Catholicos Aram I, and handed him a restored illuminated hmayil (amulet scroll). Aram I gave a facsimile of the Barjaberd Gospel and praised the Matenadaran’s “work and reforms”. (Aravot, 16 Oct — Armenian)

The source draws no connection to the government’s dispute with Etchmiadzin. It may still be noted that this cooperation between an Armenian state institution and the Catholicosate of Cilicia is under way while the government is in open conflict with Etchmiadzin.

3.2 Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church — A lay voice on leadership

On 14 October the EOTC lay commentator Teklu Abate published an essay in Borkena titled “The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church: A Crisis of Spiritual Leadership and Accountability”. He calls for a “radical restoration of holiness” in the Holy Synod: “Holiness is not an additional qualification for effective spiritual leadership; it is its very foundation.” He recalls three earlier episodes: the Church’s apology in May 2023 for not calling in time for an end to the previous war, the July 2023 episcopal elections of the Tigrayan structure, and the Synod’s excommunication of its leaders.

The essay is the second in a week to ask, from within the Church, whether its leadership is equal to the moment (after Tazabi, 9 October). It appeared as federal forces were entering Axum (§1.2). (Borkena, Teklu Abate, 14 Oct — English, opinion)

4. Orthodox Churches in the Diaspora & Mission Fields

4.1 West Africa — Moscow’s Exarchate in Guinea; Maksimov on Alexandria

Guinea. Following the report of 10 October on the first Russian Orthodox Liturgy in Accra. A week after Ghana, Fr Georgy Maksimov, head of the missionary department of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Exarchate of Africa, travelled to Guinea. The Exarchate’s report gives this programme:

  • 10 October, at the Russian House in Conakry: he opened an exhibition of his photographs, “World of Russian Orthodoxy”, and lectured to Guineans learning Russian. He also presented a French-language Gospel of Mark with patristic commentary, published by the Exarchate’s own educational centre.
  • 11 October: he celebrated the Liturgy at the Russian embassy, with Ambassador A. V. Popov among the worshippers.
  • 12 October: the ambassador received him.

The report names no Guinean officials and no Guinean converts. As in Accra, the infrastructure is that of the Russian state’s cultural agency and embassy. (Exarchate of Africa, 13 Oct — Russian; Moscow Patriarchate)

Maksimov’s own account of Accra. An interview with Maksimov conducted by Pavel Galatai for the Russian outlet African Initiative was reposted by the Exarchate on 12 October.

  • On Ghana. “On 4 October the first Russian Orthodox service in Ghana’s history took place.” It was held at the request of “the Orthodox living here”. Most of those present were Russians and Serbs, with some Middle Eastern Christians, and some Ghanaians have “expressed interest”. There is no parish yet; the aims are registration, a parish, a local priest and a church.
  • On the Patriarchate of Alexandria. “The only examples of antagonism come from the Alexandrian Orthodox Church”. He attributes the hostility to its Greek leadership in “two or three countries”, adding: “most bishops are Greeks, yet almost all priests and laity are Africans.”

(Exarchate of Africa, 12 Oct — Russian)

The interview confirms the reading offered last week, that the Accra congregation was largely expatriate. The ethnic characterisation of Alexandria’s episcopate is Maksimov’s. No response from the Patriarchate of Alexandria or its Metropolis of Accra was found during the week.

4.2 Australia — Patriarch Porfirije’s tour continues

Following the report of 10 October. Patriarch Porfirije’s Australian tour continued, and the following events were reported:

  • 11 October, Keysborough (Melbourne). He consecrated the church of St Stephen the Archdeacon, which was built in 1994, and placed a relic of St Stefan of Dečani in its altar. The collection went in part to the Church’s soup kitchens in Kosovo and Metohija. He said: wherever an Orthodox Serb is, “there Serbia is too, inside, in the heart.” (OrthoChristian, 12 Oct — English; Moscow-leaning outlet, used for facts)
  • 12–13 October, Canberra. He visited Parliament House, where he met the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Milton Dick, and members of the Australia–Serbia friendship group. He said “Wherever we built a church, we built a part of Serbia” and “Serbs here are not strangers”, and urged: “We must not divide; the Church keeps us as one people.” (Politika, 13 Oct — Serbian)
  • 13 October, Novi Kalenić monastery (Wallaroo). He said: “We may not agree, but we will not give up on being brothers … We will do everything, fight, endure everything so that we can be in communion.” The text does not say which disagreement he meant. (Riznica/SOC information service, Jadranka Janković, 13 Oct — Serbian)

The Sydney programme followed, including the consecration of the chapel at St Sava College. The tour ends on 19 October.

4.3 France — Inter-Orthodox Vespers at Notre-Dame; Chantilly texts

Vespers at Notre-Dame. On Sunday 18 October, at the invitation of the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of France, inter-Orthodox Vespers for the feast of St Denys the Areopagite are to be celebrated in Notre-Dame de Paris, restored after the fire of 2019 (Orthodoxie.com — French).

Chantilly texts. Following the report of 10 October on the Chantilly conference. Orthodoxie.com has published the closing address of Metropolitan Emmanuel of Chalcedon. No proceedings volume has been announced. No official reaction to the conference from Moscow, Georgia or Antioch appeared during the week.

5. Ecumenical and Inter-Orthodox Relations

5.1 Orthodox–Catholic — Pope Leo XIV’s surgery and the Orthodox calendar

What happened. At the end of the Sunday Angelus on 11 October, Pope Leo XIV announced that a lung nodule found “during routine medical checks” had to be removed. He was admitted to the Policlinico Gemelli on Tuesday 13 October and underwent an operation of about ninety minutes, without complications, in which part of the lower lobe of the right lung was removed. Proto Thema reports that histology confirmed a pulmonary adenocarcinoma; the Prefecture of the Papal Household suspended all audiences until 20 October. By 15–16 October the Pope was reported out of bed after “a good night”, and the first photographs from the clinic were released. (Il Foglio, Matteo Matzuzzi, 13 Oct — English; Proto Thema, Vasiliki Chrysostomidou, 15 Oct — Greek; Modern Ghana/AFP, Ella Ide, 15 Oct — English; katholisch.de, 16 Oct — German)

The Orthodox engagements affected. The illness comes in the middle of a dense Orthodox–Catholic calendar, and three Orthodox engagements are directly affected.

  • Cyprus. The Orthodoxia News Agency reported late on 15 October that “the scheduled visit of Archbishop Georgios of Cyprus to the Vatican will not take place” (Δεν θα πραγματοποιηθεί η προγραμματισμένη επίσκεψη), giving the Pope’s illness as the reason. The visit had been set for 19–20 October, with the papal audience on the 19th; its purpose was to arrange the transfer to Cyprus of a relic of the head of the Apostle Paul (Τιμία Κάρα του Αποστόλου Παύλου). No new date was given, and the report does not say which side announced the cancellation. (Last week’s edition, following earlier announcements, gave the dates as 19–21 October.) (Orthodoxia News Agency, 15 Oct — Greek)
  • Constantinople. Patriarch Bartholomew sent a get-well message on 14 October. On 15 October, receiving Franciscan friars at the Phanar, he spoke in English of having “learned with deep concern of the cancer diagnosis”, gave thanks for “successful surgery”, recalled the Pope’s visit of last November and their joint prayer at Nicaea, and said he hoped to meet him “later this month in Rome and Assisi” for the 40th anniversary of the 1986 Assisi prayer for peace. The German Catholic portal, citing Pro Oriente, quotes the letter: “May your strength be renewed for the good of the high ministry entrusted to you.” (ec-patr.org, 14 Oct and 16 Oct — Greek; katholisch.de, 16 Oct — German)
  • The Angelicum. The Pontifical University of St Thomas Aquinas announced on 8 October that it will confer an honorary doctorate in theology on Bartholomew on 23 October, at the opening of its academic year, on the initiative of its ecumenical institute. The announcement does not say whether a papal meeting is planned. (Orthodoxie.com, 13 Oct — French)

The World Council of Churches’ general secretary, Jerry Pillay, conveyed prayers on 16 October (WCC, 16 Oct — English). The same day, the Pope telephoned President Putin about the humanitarian situation in Oleshky (Kherson region), asking for a ceasefire and evacuation; the reports do not mention the Russian Orthodox Church (katholisch.de/KNA, 16 Oct — German).

What to watch. The Angelicum doctorate (23 October) and the 40th anniversary of the 1986 Assisi meeting were to make late October the most intensive fortnight of Orthodox–Catholic contact since the Nicaea anniversary of November 2025. Still open: whether Bartholomew’s Rome–Assisi trip (in the week of his 35th anniversary, §2.1) goes ahead, whether a papal meeting is possible, and a new date for the Cypriot visit.

5.2 Hungary and Serbia — A Catholic–Orthodox joint statement

On 10 October in Budapest, Cardinal Ladislav Németh, Catholic Archbishop of Belgrade, and Metropolitan Lukijan of Buda (Serbian Orthodox Church) signed a joint statement, which the Serbian Eparchy of Buda published on 11 October. It concerns the Serbian Orthodox minority in Hungary and the largely Hungarian Catholic faithful in Serbia: faith, family and identity, the protection of churches and heritage, and good relations between neighbours.

It states that “no one should be placed in a position where they must choose between fidelity to their faith” and their society. It also says: “Peace is not built by erasing differences, but by respecting the dignity of others,” and “We cannot change the past, but we can decide what we pass on from it to future generations.” The text refers to a shared history that was “at times difficult” but names no event. (Serbian Eparchy of Buda, 11 Oct — English; Hungarian text — Hungarian)

5.3 Inter-Orthodox — Who sat at whose table

Two events this week brought the divided Orthodox world into the same room.

  • The Georgian jubilee (§1.3). It gathered envoys of Churches on both sides of the Ukrainian question, together with a delegation of the UOC rather than the OCU.
  • Bartholomew’s visit to Bulgaria (§1.1). The Bulgarian Church, which is not among the Churches that recognise the OCU (Constantinople, Alexandria, Greece and Cyprus, as listed by RISU, 16 Oct), is receiving the Patriarch who granted that Church its autocephaly.

In neither case did any party, so far, present the encounter as a change of position; that is the subject of §6.1.

No replies to the Phanar’s invitation to a Synaxis of the ancient Patriarchates on 30 November were published during the week.

6. Trends, Emergent Issues & Debates

6.1 Presence as ecclesiology: guest lists, programmes and the word “concelebrate”

When Orthodox Churches cannot agree in synodal texts, they show their positions through who attends whose feasts, who stands at whose altar, and who is left off a list. This week offered three examples.

Mtskheta. The guest list at the Georgian jubilee (§1.3) is a statement in its own right. The Georgian Church does not recognise the OCU, yet it welcomed:

  • the Ecumenical Patriarchate’s envoys and the Patriarch’s written message, on the reports cited above;
  • delegates of the three other Churches that recognise the OCU: Alexandria, Greece and Cyprus (the recognisers as listed by RISU, 16 Oct);
  • a Moscow delegation, according to the Serbian report;
  • a delegation of the Ukrainian Church loyal to Metropolitan Onuphry rather than to Epifaniy.

The list therefore did not choose between Constantinople and Moscow. It did choose between the two Ukrainian bodies, and in this the Georgian Church remains where it has stood since 2019.

Sofia. The Bulgarian programme (§1.1) shows how a Church may receive Bartholomew while keeping its options open. The visit is presented as an anniversary of St John of Rila, with no political meetings. The wording differs between days: both primates “take part in prayer” in Sofia, while the Liturgy at Rila is “concelebrated”. Whether that difference is deliberate will be seen on 18–19 October.

Ukraine. Epifaniy (§2.4) predicted that more recognitions of the OCU will come “after the war”. That makes the timing of recognition depend on the war’s end rather than on canonical argument, and he named Moscow’s “influence” as the obstacle.

Reading the three together. Three separate questions are in play:

  • (a) Communion. Who is in communion with whom has not changed this week.
  • (b) Recognition of the OCU. No Church changed its position.
  • (c) Willingness to be seen together. On this third question, Tbilisi and Sofia both made moves: Tbilisi by hosting everyone except the OCU, and Sofia by hosting the Phanar despite a petition.

6.2 Derivation: how Ukraine’s affiliation findings travel down the hierarchy

In September the review described three distinct enforcement logics in Ukraine’s legislation on religious organisations affiliated with the Russian Church: prescription, termination suit and derivation. The Zaporizhzhia order (§1.4) is the first time an entire eparchy has been declared affiliated, and the logic of derivation is visible in it.

The finding rests on two grounds:

  • a diocesan assembly did not resolve to leave the Kyiv Metropolia, which has itself already been declared affiliated;
  • the bishop holds a place in the Russian Church’s governing bodies and has not renounced it.

The second ground is personal. It turns on a statutory list in Moscow that the bishop did not draw up and that only Moscow can change. Many UOC diocesan bishops are named in the same statute. If the same reasoning is applied consistently, a finding is therefore possible for every eparchy whose bishop is listed and has not renounced the listing.

At the top of the hierarchy, the Supreme Court’s decision to hear the Kyiv Metropolia appeals in writing (§1.4) removes the oral hearings at which postponements had repeatedly occurred. A final judgment in the parent case would strengthen every derived finding beneath it.

Two questions remain open:

  • whether any UOC eparchy will choose the compliance path, an assembly resolution to leave the Metropolia, rather than wait for a finding;
  • whether the courts will accept the personal-membership ground when an eparchy challenges an order.

6.3 Religion as a security file in the Baltics

The Vilnius study (§2.6) is part of a regional pattern, in which Baltic states increasingly treat Moscow-Patriarchate structures as a security question and only secondarily as a matter of religious freedom.

  • Estonia has moved through legislation. The Moscow-linked Church changed its name and statute, and is now before the European Court of Human Rights.
  • Lithuania has a former prime minister urging that the Ecumenical Patriarchate’s young Exarchate be strengthened as an alternative, while the government says it will not follow Estonia’s route of legal bans.

The parish figures presented in Vilnius (37 in Estonia, 52 in Lithuania, 125 in Latvia) come from an advocacy centre. They have not been reconciled with state registers or with the jurisdictions’ own figures, and a “parish” may be counted differently in each.

The question the next stage will test is whether policy targets institutions (statutes, canonical subordination, governing bodies) or people (clergy and parishioners who have not chosen a jurisdiction for political reasons). The Ukrainian derivation logic (§6.2) shows how quickly the first can reach the second.

6.4 Pilgrimage numbers and what they measure

The Iași count (§2.8) illustrates a standing difficulty in using pilgrimage figures as evidence of religious practice.

  • The measures differ. Organisers forecast 300,000. The final announcements gave “over 200,000 faithful” and “about 250,000” who came to the cathedral, in the same wire report. The first figure appears to count people who passed the reliquaries; the second may include those who came to the precinct without completing the queue.
  • Comparability. A year-on-year comparison is meaningful only if the same act is counted each year. This year the relics of a second saint, St Paisie of Sihăstria, were displayed for the first time, which changes the event being measured.
  • Independent indicators. Gendarmerie medical statistics (1,022 cases) are an independent indicator of scale that does not depend on the organisers’ count.

The same caution applies to Russian Church figures (§2.3). Fr Fyodor Lukyanov’s count of clinics that have “refused” abortions measures providers, not practice.

7. New Academic Literature

Books

  1. Vasileios Tsakiris, Die Konfessionalisierung der Ostkirche in der ersten Hälfte des 17. Jahrhunderts: Kyrillos Loukaris, Metrophanes Kritopoulos und die Instrumentalisierung antijesuitischer Topoi [The confessionalisation of the Eastern Church in the first half of the 17th century]. Erfurter Studien zur Kulturgeschichte des Orthodoxen Christentums, vol. 24. Berlin: Peter Lang, 2026 (published 24 August 2026), VIII + 342 pp. ISBN 978-3-631-94598-8 (hardback); e-ISBN 978-3-631-94596-4 (PDF). DOI 10.3726/b23377. German; church history. Examines how an Orthodox confessional profile took shape in the early 17th century within Western diplomatic networks before and during the Thirty Years’ War. It centres on Patriarch Cyril Loukaris and Metrophanes Kritopoulos and on their use of anti-Jesuit topoi. (Peter Lang)

Journal articles

  1. Olga Nedavnya (H. S. Skovoroda Institute of Philosophy, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine), “Politicization of Christmas Ritual Practices of Ukrainians During the Modern War”, Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe 46, no. 9, Article 18 (2026; online 30 September 2026). DOI 10.55221/2693-2229.2952. English; ethnology. Traces how nativity plays (vertep), carols and Generous Evening rites acquired political meaning in wartime. Characters and texts were altered and military themes added, the feast moved to the new calendar, and performances raised funds for the armed forces. The author argues that the practices spread abroad and among young people online as expressions of a civic patriotism situating Ukraine in Europe. (Digital Commons)


  2. Ivan V. Fedosov (RANEPA North-West Institute of Management, St Petersburg), «Восточное христианство как фактор сохранения традиционной идентичности тюркоязычных греков России и русского постимперского пространства» [Eastern Christianity as a factor preserving the traditional identity of the Turkic-speaking Greeks of Russia and the Russian post-imperial space], Христианское чтение (St Petersburg Theological Academy), 2026, no. 3: 443–452. DOI 10.47132/1814-5574_2026_3_443. Russian; history and ethnic identity. Argues that the Urums (Turkic-speaking Greeks) gave up Greek for Turkic under Muslim rule as the price of keeping their Orthodoxy. It traces the role of the faith in their identity from late Byzantium to the present. (article PDF)


  3. Augustine Dickinson and Michael Hensley (both Universität Hamburg), “Malkəʾa ʿālam (‘Image of the World’): An Ethiopic Hymn in Praise of Monasticism”, Aethiopica 28 (2025): 93–133; published online 19 May 2026. DOI 10.15460/hq66rn69. English; Ge’ez philology and hymnography. An annotated edition and translation of a monastic malkəʾ poem, a hymn genre of the Ethiopian and Eritrean Orthodox tradition. The poem survives in a single manuscript, although its title appears in four lists of malkəʾ poems. The authors use it to illuminate the genre and suggest why the poem never became popular. (Aethiopica) The volume is dated 2025 but was released in 2026.


  4. Attila Varga (Romanian Academy, George Barițiu Institute of History, Cluj), “‘Light and darkness’: The Transylvanian Orthodox apostolate against racism in the time of Bishop Nicolae Colan”, Swedish Journal of Romanian Studies 9, no. 1 (2026): 267–284; published 15 May 2026. DOI 10.35824/sjrs.v9i1.28622. English; history of the Romanian Orthodox Church. Using manuscripts from the Orthodox theological academy in Cluj, the article shows the Transylvanian Orthodox Church opposing racism as a spiritual danger. It distinguishes this from the later communist anti-racism campaign. (SJRS)


  5. Uroš Miketić, “Albanci i Visoki Dečani 1967–1974” [Albanians and Visoki Dečani, 1967–1974], Istorija 20. veka 44, no. 2 (2026): 491–510. DOI 10.29362/ist20veka.2026.2.mik.491-510. Serbian, with English summary; 20th-century history. Draws on the monastery’s archive and the press to reconstruct pressure from local Albanians on Dečani between the Brioni plenum of 1966 and the 1974 constitution. It argues that the local authorities played the pressure down, while the monastery kept correct relations with Albanians willing to have them. The author is a graduate of the Serbian university in North Mitrovica, and the subject is contested. (publisher PDF)


  6. Marko Božić (Union University Law School, Belgrade), “Claiming Autocephaly, Hoping for Autonomy: Legal Recognition and Self-Governing of National Orthodox Churches in Socialist Yugoslavia”, Nationalities Papers (Cambridge University Press), FirstView, pp. 1–22; published online 15 July 2026. DOI 10.1017/nps.2026.10174. English; law and church–state relations. Argues that Yugoslavia’s apparently neutral post-1946 regime of religious self-governance served political ends. In the case of the Serbian Orthodox Church, the author argues, it fed conflicts, the Macedonian autocephaly dispute among them, which pushed the Church from decentralised towards oligarchic governance. (Cambridge Core)


  7. Christos Filiotis (indexed also as Filiotis-Vlachavas), “L’office des secondes noces. Le deuxième ou troisième mariage dans l’Église orthodoxe” [The office of second marriage: second or third marriage in the Orthodox Church], Revue d’éthique et de théologie morale no. 334 (2026/4): 71–81; online 4 September 2026. DOI 10.3917/retm.334.0071. French; canon law and liturgy. Sets out how Orthodoxy affirms the indissolubility of marriage yet permits a second or third marriage by pastoral oikonomia. Such marriages are celebrated in a penitential rite that treats divorce as a wound to be healed rather than chiefly as a legal fault. The issue’s theme is “L’Église et les divorcés” (“The Church and the divorced”).


  8. Pekka Metso and Maria Takala-Roszczenko, “Ortodoksisten koululaisten suomalaiskansallinen kirkollinen kasvatus 1920–30-luvuilla kansalaiskasvatuksen näkökulmasta” [The Finnish-national church education of Orthodox schoolchildren in the 1920s–30s from the perspective of civic education], Uskonto, katsomus ja kasvatus 6, no. 1 (2026); online 5 September 2026. DOI 10.63389/5gz9gw85. Finnish; history of education. Analyses an Orthodox school devotional guide and a school prayer book of the interwar period. The two texts present home, church, school and fatherland as one whole, binding Orthodox piety to Finnish citizenship.


  9. Paul Hasselblatt, “Millainen isä Herman Alaskalainen oli ihmisenä?” [What was Father Herman of Alaska like as a person?], Ortodoksia 66 (2026): 143–167; online 26 September 2026. DOI 10.61560/ortodoksia.186879. Finnish; hagiography and history. A study of the person of St Herman of Alaska, the Valaam monk of the Russian mission to Alaska. The article has no published abstract, so this description rests on its title.


This review covers the period 11-17 October 2026.

This text was generated by Claude (Anthropic), Claude Opus 5.5, on 17 October 2026. It has been edited by Orthodox.News. https://claude.ai

Scroll to Top